1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a card shuffling and selection machine for a game of chance, and more particularly toward a rotary card shuffling and selection machine supported for rotation in a generally vertical plane about a generally horizontal rotary axis.
2. Related Art
The games of Money Wheel and Big Six are well established casino games including a “prize-wheel” type of random point generating device in the form of a large vertical rotating wheel. The playing wheel is imprinted with a plurality of fixed symbols along its circumference. By use of the term “fixed” here to refer to the symbols, it is meant that the symbols are imprinted on the wheel at the factory and cannot be rearranged or their relative positions manipulated in any reasonable way. A nearby player betting surface presents a plurality of wagering areas corresponding to the fixed symbols on the playing wheel. Each round of the game starts with the players placing wagers on the wagering areas. Once all of the wagers are placed, a dealer manually spins the playing wheel, and a winning symbol is determined via a fixed pointer once the playing wheel comes to a stop. Wagers previously placed on the wagering area associated with the winning symbol are deemed “winners” and paid according to a predetermined pay-out.
Gaming laws vary greatly from one jurisdiction to the next throughout the United States. Consequently, many jurisdictions significantly restrict the playing of dice and wheel casino games. Wheel games are generally restricted in those jurisdictions if they have a moving random number or result generation wheel with indicia being fixed in a permanent manner to the wheel itself. Again, use of the term “fixed” here refers to the indicia being imprinted on the wheel at the factory and not realistically capable of being rearranged by a casino. It does not matter whether the wheel operates in a vertical fashion, like the above-described prize wheel, or in a horizontal position, like a roulette wheel. The key is that the indicia for that apparatus must always be in the same position of the wheel for the game to be considered restricted. For example, the 0 and 00 are always fixed to the same spot on a single or double roulette wheel, and the 40 to 1 indicia is always fixed to the same location on a “Money Wheel.”
In addition to being restricted in many jurisdictions, fixed indicia wheel games present two additional problems. The first problem is that wheels may be rigged, or “gaffed”, to generate a preferred outcome. The second problem is that any misbalance in the wheel will favor one outcome over another. New devices have been created that allow cheaters to determine whether a wheel is out of balance, and if so, what outcome has an increased expectation of appearing. Cheaters then use this information to their advantages when placing wagers.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,669,853, issued to Mark H. Jones (hereinafter referred to as “Jones '853”), shows a horizontally mounted wheel for use in wheel games, e.g. Roulette. Rather than having fixed indicia on the wheel, which is not only restricted in many jurisdictions but also easy for cheaters to crack, the wheel of the Jones '853 patent uses a variable indicia system in the form of removable and re-orderable playing cards. The playing cards are disposed around the circumference of the playing wheel, and a flapper is used to determine the winning card. The playing cards are periodically removed from the shuffler machine and rearranged between rounds by the casino, thus varying the positions of the indicia. The wheel of the Jones '853 patent is designed to randomly generate a winning card, or cards, from a mix of cards, and as such may be used for several different games, including dice games like craps. The key to its overwhelming legal acceptance, even in jurisdictions where other types of wheel games are prohibited, has been that the cards are periodically removed, shuffled, and returned to the machine based on the casino's policies and procedures. In other words, the cards are not fixed forever in a specified slot, but rather periodically randomly relocated into different slots between games. The variable position of the indicium negates any advantage a cheater might gain from knowledge of a biased wheel. The wheel of the Jones '853 patent is not operable in a vertical position, however, because the cards would too easily fall out of the apparatus during the spinning (shuffling) process, and because no provision is made to hide the card indicia while the wheel is spinning for casinos that believe such action is necessary.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,841,637 to Piazza et al. discloses a card wheel type device in which cards may be placed in a horizontally rotatable platter via respective card receptacles and support members fitted each with a clamp section. Like the Jones '853 wheel, the Piazza device is also particularly ill-suited for operation in the vertical “prize wheel” dimension because its cards would not be properly retained in the slots when the wheel is rotated. Any cards slipping loose from the open-end slots in Piazza would create a catastrophic event bringing game play to a halt and jeopardizing the trust and integrity players must possess toward the operators of a game of chance.
There is therefore a need in the art for an improved “prize wheel” type device which can accommodate the variable indicium features of the Jones '853 invention. Such a vertically oriented wheel must reliably hold cards in respective card slots without risk of loss, yet permit convenient removal and replacement of such cards at the end of each spin in order to render a game decision. It would also be beneficial if provisions were made to hide the card indicia while the wheel is spinning for certain casino preferences.